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In a bid to speed up her exit, she walked Ruth out the door and to the lifts. ‘There you go,’ she said, hitting the button. ‘You don’t want to take the stairs in your condition.’ Fortunately for once the lift doors opened almost immediately.
Ruth waddled in and turned round. ‘Bye, Emma,’ she said as the doors slid shut.
Emma breathed a huge sigh of relief. Shaking her head she walked back to the office, clocking Joy’s face which made her laugh. Clearly, she wasn’t a fan of Ruth.
When she got back to her desk, she saw she had several missed calls from Max which set her on edge. Her phone must have been on silent. Calling him back straight away, he picked up almost immediately.
‘Hey there. How are you?’
‘Up to my eyes and just had a visit from Ruth.’
He sighed. ‘Let me guess, she was there to tell you I had been spotted out on the town.’
‘Yip,’ she said, sighing.
‘Thought as much. A friend of hers is working on this case and, well, you know how the jungle drums beat.’
Emma walked towards the window and looked down below to the people milling about George Street. ‘Should I be worried?’
‘Not at all.’
‘What’s with all the missed calls then?’
‘Just wanted to speak to you when I could. We are about to get back into things again and I don’t know when I’ll get another break. I miss you.’
‘You sure you don’t have anything to tell me?’
‘Hey,’ he said, gently. ‘This isn’t like you. Emma, you know I would never lie to you about anything. I really hope you know that. And I hope you know that you can tell me anything too.’
‘I know,’ she said, flustered. ‘Look, I need to go, too. Loads still to get sorted before I finish up. I could be here late as well.’
‘Text me when you’re home so I know you’re okay. What time are you leaving in the morning?’
‘I’m on the first ferry so I’ll aim to leave here just after five, so I’ve got plenty of time in case the traffic is bad.’
Max laughed. ‘That should give you loads of time, love.’
‘You say that, Max,’ she said with a snort, ‘but let’s not forget that occasion when we almost missed the ferry.’ She smiled as she remembered the first time she took him home to Arran to meet her parents. She told him it would take at least two hours to get to the ferry terminal. They had accidentally slept in and then Emma had managed some heroic,Top Gearstyle, driving which involved overtaking lots of cars on single, windy roads down the Ayrshire coast. Max had later confessed that he hadn’t dared ask if she could pull over as he felt so sick.
Normally the ferry staff were quite pedantic about timings and expected all passengers to be there a minimum of half an hour before departure. It was only because she happened to know the ticket inspector from school that they were allowed to drive on moments before the ferry door closed. Then, as soon as the car stopped, Max had vomited into his empty coffee cup. Now and then, she liked to remind him about it.
Her eyes widened in excitement as she thought about making the journey tomorrow. Just then her landline started to ring. ‘Bollocks. I’d better go in case that’s the Crown Office. Love you.’
‘Love you, too. Take care,’ he said.
Emma snatched up the other phone before it rang off. She couldn’t wait until it was just the two of them. Surely then everything would be okay?
Chapter Twenty-Two
‘I’m heading down to the distillery later if you fancy coming along with me?’ said Steve. ‘We could take your dad too?’
‘He’s in the garden with Tom sorting out the carrots and then Tom wants to take him for a walk. I think there’s a fungus he spotted on some trees in the woods the other day which he wanted to show Dad.’
She smiled at the thought of Tom and her dad chatting passionately about fungi of all things. She had no need to worry when he was with Tom as they would both be absorbed in the moment of planting and then later peering closely at the mushroom and working out what type it was and whether it was edible or not.
‘Ah, okay,’ said Steve. ‘How about you then?’
‘I have a few things to do here,’ said Kirsty, looking at the wedding folder on the table and wondering if she ever wouldn’t have things to do or worry about. Was this now how her life would be?
